Don Mattingly was ejected from Dodger Stadium in the eighth inning Wednesday. In that moment, for the first time all week, the Miami Marlins’ manager got the unanimous standing ovation he so rarely heard in his final days in a Dodgers uniform.

There was a tinge of sadness to the moment. When Mattingly sprinted out to join pitcher David Phelps’ protest of a couple borderline balls, it was the closest the Dodgers came to scoring a run.

Joc Pederson’s one-out walk loaded the bases for the Dodgers’ number-2 and number-3 hitters, Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez. And because Phelps was ejected, the Marlins were forced to use their fifth pitcher of the inning, right-hander Jose Urena.

Urena threw his warmup tosses, then struck out Puig and retired Gonzalez on a soft fly ball. The Dodgers lost 2-0, their first shutout of the season coming before an announced crowd of 38,909.

“Sometimes we forget there’s another major league team across the way that’s doing everything they can to get us out,” Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. “They’ve thrown the ball extremely well this series. I think we’ve all been kind of impressed with the power arms they have coming out of their bullpen. They have some guys late who can really throw the ball and put you on the defensive with their velocity and their power. It’s something we’ve got to combat, come back tomorrow and be ready to salvage the series.”

The Marlins will send right-hander Jose Fernandez to the mound Thursday against Kenta Maeda in search of a rare four-game sweep. Fernandez, the 2013 National League Rookie of the Year, is catching the Dodgers at a good time: The same offense that scored 15 runs on Opening Day, and 12 runs in their final game of a week-long road trip Sunday, has officially disappeared upon returning home.

Monday, they managed to scratch across two earned runs against Wei-Yin Chen, who began the week with an earned-run average of 4.91. Tuesday, they scored two more against Tom Koehler (4.80 ERA).

The Dodgers’ opponent Wednesday was left-hander Justin Nicolino, who hadn’t thrown a pitch above Triple-A since last September. Dave Roberts stacked his lineup with six right-handers, putting lefty Chase Utley and switch-hitter Yasmani Grandal on the bench to start the game.

The lineup mustered only two singles and two walks in 7 1/3 innings against Nicolino and his low-90s fastball. The Dodgers’ 6 through 9 hitters were 0 for 11 with one walk.

“Very similar to Chen in game one, very aggressive attacking the strike zone,” Ellis said of Nicolino. “He had us in pretty bad counts all night with his ability to keep attacking and attacking. He deserves a lot of credit.”

Nicolino, 24, made four starts at Triple-A this year. In 12 major league games last year he went 5-4 with a 4.01 earned-run average, including a June 26 start at Dodger Stadium in which he allowed five runs in four innings.

On paper, this was a pitcher the Dodgers should have pounded into submission. Maybe, as the manager suggested, they were pounding themselves a tad too much.

“Some guys look at their average and want to get hits,” Roberts said. “When you feel like you need to get a hit it gets tougher. Guys are coming out of the strike zone a little bit more than they used to.”

The eighth-inning rally, punctuated by Mattingly’s ejection, stood alone as the Dodgers’ one chance to score.

After Nicolino was removed with one out, Utley and Grandal drew back-to-back walks against Bryan Morris and Cody Ege, respectively. Another pinch hitter, Pederson, walked in his only plate appearance. While home plate umpire Todd Tichenor ejected Phelps and Mattingly, the fans roared and Puig waited for his turn as Urena warmed up in short order.

Then Urena closed the door on the inning, and stuck around to pitch a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season.

Left-hander Scott Kazmir (1-2) allowed two runs on four singles in a shaky first inning, then settled in to give the Dodgers six quality innings. He wasn’t allowed to swing a bat, but that was the only remnant of a left thumb/wrist injury that curtailed his last start.

Kazmir didn’t throw a bullpen after that game but he seemed no worse for the wear. The Marlins’ four first-inning singles weren’t particularly hard-hit. Kazmir’s final line — 6 innings pitched, two earned runs — was his best since his first start of the season.

“I really found a good rhythm,” Kazmir said. “Toward the end (of the first inning) I started to feel comfortable. I just took that into the rest of the game.”

That the Dodgers couldn’t reward one of their struggling starters only made the final score more frustrating.

“We just want to go out there and win,” Kazmir said. “I think we’re capable of doing that every night and it’s always disappointing when we don’t pull out a win.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.